


The Study of You

by CharlieDoesIt



Series: Space Adventures [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, Luke Skwalker has PTSD, M/M, after the war, grad student Luke Skwalker, professor Din Djarin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-16 08:00:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 15,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29328927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CharlieDoesIt/pseuds/CharlieDoesIt
Summary: Luke is a war hero, but Leia won't let him throw the rest of his life away. Forcing him to get his graduate degree he meets the mysterious man that's been appearing to him in his dreams. He's stirring up Luke's connection to the force that broke when Anakin came back to the light. The twins do some investigating, and Luke may accidentally fall in love with the cute nerdy literature professor, while he starts unveiling lies from every side.
Relationships: Din Djarin/Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa & Luke Skywalker & Han Solo
Series: Space Adventures [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2078496
Comments: 54
Kudos: 116





	1. Professor Djarin

_A voice soft and deep pulled him. "I will figure out a way to get us out of here." He spoke. He felt sand and cool droplets of water that tasted like salt._

_A hand was in his own, a glove covered the warm skin. "Go, love." He felt himself say._

_He felt the hand slip out of his grip in its wake all he felt was cold._

_\---_

When Luke woke from the dream his heart was raced. He grabbed at his bed to ground himself. The window above his bed allowed for sunlight to cast in, its blue tint took over space. He had dreamt of the man so often he'd begun to lose count. He half hoped it was because his connection to the force would come back, but he knew better than to get his hopes up.

He did a fairly good job to convince himself that he didn’t need it anymore. There wasn’t a need for force users when times were peaceful. The war was over for now, and Leia Organa wasn’t about to allow his life to go by. She forced him to finish school, and even then, the condition was he do it on Yavin. Luckily for him, it was one of the most beautiful planets he had ever seen.

All the greenery would have set the force on fire, hell without it Luke's body felt lifted. It wasn’t anything like Tatooine. Leia’s house was also only about a mile from the school. Luke was threatened into staying with her and Han, so he had no choice but to feel embarrassed about his lack of independence.

There was a knock on his door and then a shout to get up. “I don’t even have class today,” he groaned at her relentlessness. He threw off his comforter and walked towards the door.

“Yeah, you do,” she said her voice muffled by the door, “you have biogeochemistry today at two so we should get going at around 12.”

He swung the door open to see Leia’s smug smile. “How,” he threw his hands out. “How do you even know that?”

She shrugged, “I’m the dean,” and made her way towards the kitchen.

“That’s illegal you know,” he shouted as she turned a corner out from his line of sight.

He hit his head against the door frame, he might as well get ready for the day.

How was it barely Tuesday? His head leaned on the glass of her car window as he watched the forest pass by, he thought how much he wanted the week to be over already. He’d graduated with a Bachelor's degree why had that not been enough for his sister or even Han? Not to mention the fact that he was also a fully-fledged Jedi Knight.

Half a mile into their drive the car somewhere on the street in front of them backfired. The sound boomed in Luke's ears. It was like a flash had gone off in his mind. His heart raced, and his mind blanked out. He heaved. It felt like he was dying, and all he could see were lasers from Tie Fighters that missed him by a centimeter.

He felt a hand on his shoulder soft and present while everything else fell around him. It wasn’t enough. The world threatened to close in on him, and he was powerless against it.

When he came to, the car wasn’t moving. He was on the floor of the car, his knees pushed up against his chest, and his face was wet with tears. “Luke?” Leia whispered, scared to break him further. He sat up and forced himself to keep still, his body resisted and shook. He pulled his seat belt on and took deep breaths.

“This didn’t happen,” he whispered. It was mostly to himself until his sister opened her mouth to speak when he repeated the statement. He looked at her and used more force in his voice. She nodded resigned to do whatever her brother needed.

The after-effects of his little episode had caught up to him, once they’d reached that campus. He was drained. Somehow, he only had enough energy to make it into his sister's office and collapse onto her couch.

He woke up later than he meant to, the sun bright in his eyes. He twisted his wrist and looked at his watch. It was ten minutes to five, and his sister was nowhere to be found. He rubbed his eyes, and he didn’t realize that someone had walked in. “Hey Organa, did you…” his voice was deep and soft at the same time. Luke sat up and made eye contact with the man at the door. “You’re not Leia.”

Luke’s voice was still rough from when he slept, “Neither are you,” Luke said. His heart dropped down to his stomach when he fully took him in. His navy tie and black shirt perfectly matched the man he’d saw in his dreams. Right down to the mustache and boxy glasses. “Do you make a habit of barging into offices?”

“She usually lets me...” Before he could continue, he heard Leia's voice distantly as she apologized somewhere out in the hallway. As she walked into her room to turn in the light, she looked between the two men.

She tried to bury her worry in a typical motherly fashion. “I didn’t realize you were still in here.” Luke didn’t even need the force to see right through her facade.

“I accidentally slept in,” he sighed and smoothed over his shirt.

The intruder was still stood awkwardly off to the side. She set her bag down, as she motioned for the man to take a seat at one of the chairs in front of her desk. “Luke, this is Din Djarin head of the undergraduate Basics department.” He pushed his glasses up and put his bag beside him. He was kind of cute, but then again, he’d had months of intrusive dreams.

“Din, this is Luke Skywalker...my twin brother.” The man’s, Din’s eyes widened slightly, but he made no move to congratulate the war hero.

Before Luke could internally argue against it, his hands had pushed him off the couch. He asked if he could talk to Leia in the hallway. She closed the door tenderly behind them. “How are you?” She asked like she’d held it this whole time.

“Fine,” he said as he dodged the question, “I don’t want a strong reaction for what I’m about to say, because I still don’t exactly know what this means. So I just need you to stay calm.”

She nodded and straightened her posture as if she was bracing for a blow. “Have you ever shown me a picture of the man in your office, or do you think we’ve ever crossed paths?” She shook her head. “I’ve been seeing him in my dreams for the past couple of months.”

Her mouth twitched, it was the only sign of a reaction and besides that, she did very well to not react. “Does that mean that your connection is back?” He shook his head and she nodded again as she took it all in. “Okay, um, how about we do not get too disappointed or excited, we’ll keep monitoring it to see what happens.”

She looked up at him, a worried sparkle in her eyes gleamed. Luke knew what that meant and started to get nervous. He always knew his sister was capable of fearful acts. She shoved open the door. “Professor Djarin! Have you gotten a TA yet?” She smiled stiffly.

Din sat up, startled by the sudden intrusion. “Oh uh not yet.”

She clasped Luke’s shoulder. “Din’s TA dropped out and then disappeared to the outer rim, can you believe that?”

She sat in her chair and clapped her hands together. “Would you look at that I just found you the perfect candidate!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello dear reader, thank you so much for getting this far. Let me know how you like this chapter, and what you're looking forward to in this fic.  
> Also, I wasn't going to add the dream scene but I was listening to This Is Home by Cavetown and the lyric kind of jumped at me.  
> I don't know if I should keep them in.
> 
> [Edited to Past Tense]


	2. Your BFF

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke gets to know the professor, and finds some very interesting things out about him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am very much screwing with the timeline as much as someone can. This is basically he La Croix of Star Wars canon, so let me explain. Din was 18 when Luke and Leia where about 15 so there isn't a huge age gap. Luke didn't know he was a force user until around 22 and the war last 4 years, and this story is about a year after it officially ended. I'll unveil more about Din getting Grogu, and Ben Solo is still very much a tiny baby. I hope that clears some things up!
> 
> [Edited to past tense]

The room began to feel stuffy, and honestly a bit he felt suffocated. She couldn’t be serious. Could she? He barely had enough time to do his regular things, and now he was being forced into another responsibility. Plus his focus subject was nowhere near language arts.

Din rubbed at the back of his neck anxiously. “Well you could send in the application, but to be honest I don’t really have any other viable candidate.”

Leia’s mouth flattened into a more sincere smile. “Great!” The silence of the room grew as their eyes avoided each other like a plague.

Luke got bored as he waited for their meeting to end. About twenty minutes in, he asked Din for the keys to his classroom and made his way to the building. He read the scribbly writing on the post-it note Din gave him ‘ _BASC 4.208,’_ of course his room would be on the fourth floor. Plus he’d gotten a bit lost when he looked for the language building, in his defense, he hadn’t stepped onto an undergraduate campus in years.

The building was tall and made of whitewashed stone with big round windows. He sighed looking up its height, he’d take the stairs. He always had a reservation about the use of an elevator as an able-bodied person, but now it was something else.

He was glad his sister had taken over this university. He’d heard that his birth mother had been the university president of Naboo. Before the school had been turning into a boot camp. Now it was nowhere near the glory that she’d seen.

As he became winded, and his breath became labored. He opened his eyes seeing the emptiness of those bases. He had slept in a classroom, and distantly he could feel himself hope for the normalcy of being a regular student. As he looked around, he heard anguished shouts, and the soldiers around him disappeared one by one. A hand reached out to him but when he took it the sound of a blaster rang in his ears. Then he actually opened his eyes, and he was on the floor at the bottom of one of the flights of stairs.

His body was drowsy, so he must have had another one of those little spasms. Eventually, he made it to the room. There was a gold-plated name tag on the outside that read Dr. Din Djarin. Luke stared at it and hoped something about it would spark something in him. It didn’t, the name meant nothing to him.

A class somewhere down the hall ended, and Luke hurried inside. He was glad he’d made it inside before he’d been overwhelmed. The classroom itself was big with a window on the other side of where he had entered. A desk and a podium to the right of the entrance door and a glass door at the side of the desk. It was covered with a curtain, so it was probably his office.

There were bookshelf boxes along the wall filled with books, and in each box was the same-colored cover. He searched the room for his box of papers. When he finally found it he rummaged through it until he found a freshly printed syllabus. There was one for creative writing, and one for his class of intro to basics. He took a seat in one of the hundreds of desks and realized the classroom was otherwise empty. It lacked family pictures and signs that had sappy poems printed in various fonts. 

Din showed up almost an hour later and looked surprised when Luke was still there. “Oh,” he said, and Luke probably should have sat closer to the front. “I didn’t think you would stay here this late.”

“Yeah,” he said as he looked over one of the research papers he had been assigned. “Sister’s my ride, and she usually stays until nighttime.” _Oh, biogeochemistry you are going to be my worst nightmare_ , he thought to himself.

He made an ah sound while he sat down at the desk. “Sorry,” he said quietly. He avoided Luke’s eyes and continued, “For how we met.” The dim lamplight that flooded the room cast a soft orange light onto the older man. It softened his features, it almost made him approachable, but Luke resisted. He resisted looking at the perfect little arch of the bridge of his nose. His strong jaw tightened nervously.

“It’s fine, I mean um it’s all good,” Din nodded as he reached somewhere into his desk. “Just a rough day I suppose.”

He put a packet down in front of Luke softly and his hand lingered on it until he turned away back to the front. “You know Leia and I have been friends since high school,” he said looking at Luke. Finally. Finally, his big brown eyes were trained on him, “I’m just saying that’s why she lets me go into her office when I want.”

The packet on his desk was labeled ‘ _Creative Writing_ ’ with the course number and three following section numbers. He flipped through it looking at the explanation and assignment type for each syllabus. “The high school days?”

He mhmed across the room a sound barely audible. “Well, her high school days I was still in tr…” He stopped himself, and it made Luke wiggle in his seat for more information. “Anyway enough about me, use those any time you grade for me. You’re going to be in charge of my entry-level creative writing course that’s on Tuesdays and Thursdays.”

How convenient for the both of them that his class landed on one of his less busy days, but Luke seemed to think it wasn’t so much of a coincidence. He nodded along. He should probably sit in on one of his classes to get a feel for it. _Just_ to get a feel, obviously, no other reason.

Even if his sister was dead set on forced proximity, there was no way Luke would succumb. Plus, in his dreams, this man had appeared so much warmer. Like he was always pushing Luke to go closer, but here in this empty classroom, it was like Din couldn’t bear the sight of him.

“So how did you even end up without an assistant for a semester?” Luke asked, and then continued when he was Din quirk an eyebrow at him. “It’s just that the semester just started, and your assistant has already quit?”

“He quit during summer,” he said curtly. It seemed as if he realized the answer wasn’t good enough for Luke he sighed. “He quit when everyone else was already accepted by other teachers. I have one for my other classes in basic, I just needed one for creative writing.” He looked out the window as if he contemplated how to continue in the vaguest way, “I could do it all myself but I’ve had trouble balancing for the past year since I’ve recently...come into other responsibilities.”

This man could not be any more infuriating. He Acted as if his whole life was some mystery to unfold, but what was it to Luke? He couldn’t expect this stranger to unveiling his whole life story, because that’s what he was wasn’t it? A complete stranger.

Luke studied him for a beat too long until the phone in his pocket started buzzing. ‘ _Mom_ ’ came onto the screen and he realized he really should change her contact name. “Yeah, Leia?” She fussed for a bit over the phone until she told him to hurry up because she was getting hangry. On the bright side, Han was apparently cooked lasagna for dinner so there was that.

He gathered up the papers Din had given him into one folder, and his research paper in another. “Be in my classroom Thursday at 12:50 because it starts at one,” Din said before Luke reached the door. He opened his mouth as if he were going to say more but shut it and waved Luke goodbye.

\---

Luke and Leia looked at the mess Ben had made over the dining room table and looked at each other. They made the decision to leave it to Han quickly and went to the kitchen to start washing dishes. Leia filled the sink with suds and placed the rinsed-off dishes inside. “So,” she said as she looked into the water. Probably in an attempt to act casual, “How did it go?”

Luke scoffed, “Oh you mean with your bestie?” he said, as he took one of the freshly cleaned plates from her hand and put it in the cupboard above the stove. “The one you’ve apparently known for years?”

She sighed, “Luke, I promise you have never seen his face. It was purely coincidental that your dream man is Din.”

“Well, it still doesn’t mean I’m anywhere close to getting my connection back.” He grumbled.

He noticed her start to rube at the plates with increased aggression. “You know what?” She said, taking her hands out of the sink. She flicked some water on him as she pointed an accusing finger. “Why do you even _want_ it back?”

Her voice was angry. More than Luke had heard it in a long time, but he didn’t allow it to throw him off. “What do you mean why?”

Suds streamed down her wrist dripping down to the dark wood floor. “I mean why do you want it back so badly? It has brought my family nothing but suffering, _our_ family.”

Luke’s chin wobbled, “Because I’m nothing without it,” his eyes burned as they fought back tears. “Nothing,” he said dejectedly.

She took a deep breath bracing herself on the sink’s edge. “Don’t say that Luke,” she whispered. “You are so much more than a soldier.”

The problem wasn’t if he was more, it’s that he didn’t believe it if he was. He’d never be anything useful if he didn’t get it back. If there were ever any sort of attack on his family, he’d be defenseless, they would all be. “I’m sure that my excellent understanding of the sciences will keep us safe.”

She drained the sink handing him the last plate, “Do you really feel unsafe right now?” He nodded, and Leia pursed her lips. She dried her hands off wrapping them around her brother. Her hand slid up to cup his head, her gentle fingers stroking his head. “We’re all safe now okay, there is nothing coming to get us anymore.”

She pushed him away so that she could cup his jaw. “Can you please just be a regular twenty-something-year-old for now,” he grimaced but she forced him to look at her. “For me?” She pleaded. Suddenly Luke saw more than his sister, he saw the general. One hidden under layers of her normalcy facade. He saw the woman who’d seen the horrors her brother and husband fought through, and one that was fighting the same battle he was.

He’d do it, if only because she asked him to. Because if he could find normalcy, then maybe he could find happiness again.

He nodded at her, and she wiped away a tear that had come down her jaw. “Okay.”

“Okay,” she choked out and then cleared her throat as she rubbed at her face. “Plus, it would be very normal of you to have a crush on that hot professor you met today.”

He hit her shoulder, “I do not, that man is the most unapproachable human being I have ever met.”

She giggled into her hand, “I think you just have to get under...the armor.” He hit her again and she ran away laughing.

He could try, just for his sister's laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for reading, it means so much to me!


	3. Muddy Water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke's itching to ask Din about when he'd first met Leia. When the professor doesn't budge the conversation goes into the deeper feelings that Luke is struggling with.

Luke’s class had run late and as he stood at the door of his building; he was dreading getting soaked by the rain pouring outside. The plants of this planet needed the harsh stream. Luke only worried his garden wouldn’t survive long. He was already late as it was and waiting until the sky cleared up wouldn’t be possible.

His day had been going astray since this morning when he slipped off the stairs of their doorway and landed in a pool of mud. Not to mention Leia’s twitching grimace when he had to go take a shower and change. Then his ecology class had gone over by half an hour.

Fortunately, he made it inside of Din’s classroom, as they were exiting, and he used it to blend in. He usually took a seat at a desk far enough from the professor that it would be a nuisance for him to try to ask a question. A pile of papers was placed on his desk as he felt eyes drilling into him. He kept his eyes concentrated on a speck of dust on his desk until the older man shuffled away.

He looked through the papers recognizing the poem type and searched for it in the syllabi packet he’d been given. They graded in silence until the desk arrangement was no longer in his favor. He cleared his throat to get the other man’s attention. “So how did you meet my sister?”

Din was laser-focused on his screen but still answered. “My guardian and I were making our way to Naboo when we made a stop on Alderaan. Queen Organa hosted us.”

“What was she like?” Luke urged wanting more details.

Din eventually looked up at him pursing his lips. “Queen Organa?”

Luke rolled his eye, “My sister. I’ve only known her for a couple of years. I didn’t even know I had family, let alone a twin sister.”

Din nodded taking his words in. Sometimes he was too cautious trying to speak. Luke wished he would just rant, say whatever he wanted. He wished he could just talk. He stood walking towards the large window near the professor’s desk. There was a fountain down below. He tried remembering its sound, and the energy he used to feel from water. He hadn’t truly known how connected he was to the outside world until it was severed.

“She was like you back then,” he heard the man shuffling behind him, but forced his attention to the water. “So carefree.” He whispered almost as if Luke wasn’t supposed to hear him say those words.

“Do I seem carefree to you?” He asked.

Din clicked his tongue, “Why does that seem absurd to you?” He was no longer whispering, but his voice lowered into a tone of intimacy.

“When I had just graduated, I was. All I wanted was to study plants and use them to treat people. I wanted to be a healer.” Daylight was dying and the lights under the fountain blinked on. The water was now gleaming a bright red. “Then they found out about why I had such a good connection to…well everything. The Order came and grabbed me.”

He supposed maybe he shouldn’t have been dumping his whole life story onto the helpless man, but he had to know what was enticing him to the stranger. “A part of me is grateful, it’s how I found Leia, Han,”…and. And. There was something else.

“But?” Luke jumped lost in thought. He turned and found the other man standing inches away from him.

“But they turned me into a Jedi, and in the end. I lost everything.”

Din tilted his head. He recognized where he’d misspoken. Everything would imply his family, his home, all the things he still had.

“I lost my connection to the force,” he muttered. He realized how little he truly admitted it. The words felt acidic and foreign in his mouth. “I also lost months of memory, but that doesn’t seem too bad.” He almost felt a twitch beside him but figured he’d made it up. “Leia found me beaten and bleeding,” his voice staggered.

He focused on the senses he had left, he had to concentrate on anything else but the feelings he was arousing. The other man smelt intoxicatingly like sandalwood and metal. Everything about him made Luke feel like he was suffocating. Even if he had seen him in passing, this was something entirely more complex.

“Anyways,” he said loudly cutting through the tension. “Sorry to unload all of that. I just wanted to know more about Leia. She doesn’t talk much about her time as a princess.” He rubbed his gloved hands together suddenly nervous. “I think she feels guilty that she got adopted by royalty and I ended up on Tatooine.”

“Tatooine?” Din asked. Luke was surprised he’d been speaking for so long.

They walked back to their desks with the empty notion that they would begin working again. “Yeah, uh my aunt and uncle took me in. I mean the planet sucked but it gave me enough piloting skills to rank.”

Luke wondered distantly if Din had any place in the war. Yeah, Luke used to be carefree, borderline reckless. Now even a car could set him off. It made him angry. Bitter because he felt weak. The other man was watching at him. He distantly noticed that the rims of his glasses had slipped down.

They worked deeper into the night only the noises of ruffled paper and air conditioning keeping them company. It worked this way for the rest of the week all the way until the following Wednesday.

After the talk they had all those days ago, it was never mentioned again. Luke wondered if he’d done something wrong. Maybe Din didn’t want to be bothered by something his planet hadn’t been a part of. Or maybe Luke had accidentally triggered something. Either way, the younger of the two kept his mouth shut after.

The students were working on regular poems now. As part of the project, they had to choose a concept or theme to base them over. Luke was looking through them deciding if they were sufficient enough. “Free tomorrow I’m going to start showing you how to teach a class.”

“But why? I’m not planning on using you for a reference or anything.” He said trying not to freak out.

“Well even so you’re a TA so it’s kind of in the description,” Din said monotone. “I’ll email you the PowerPoint.”

Luke studied him until it clicked. “My sister put you up to this didn’t she?”

He opened his mouth in defense and then deflated when he dialed Leia. It rang for a couple of seconds until his sister answered cheerfully.

“Did you force Din to make me teach a class?” Luke said rushed

The other line went silent “No,” she said her lie obviously in her tone. She waited a couple of seconds until she gave up thinking that Luke would ever believe her. “Listen I just think, you know, it would be good for you.”

“Oh, do you?” He said tapping his foot angrily against the floor.

He practically heard the lightbulb go off in his sister's head. “At least just learn to, or I’ll invite Din to dinner.”

He looked between his phone and the helpless man at the desk. He knew what wrath Leia was about to unleash on him since Luke had unveiled her little scheme. “Fine, I’ll learn to, and then only in emergencies I will teach.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone. Thanks again for your continued support. I have the rough drafts for the next threeish chapters lined up. Mostly because I've been bored. Texas resident type beat. Comments motivate!  
> Hopefully, it's not too obvious that I don't really know how universities work, I'm a freshman undergrad.


	4. Mushroom Soup

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ITS DINNER TIME. What could possibly happen when the whole fam gets together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg guys I've made such a mistake. I'm honestly so dumb. I always write in the past tense so I don't know why on god's green earth I've been writing this in the present tense. If you're here reading I give you the biggest round of applause for this shit show. I'm trying to figure out how to make my fics more popular, and not using the correct tense is definitely not helping. I'm still going to keep the present tense so it's going to be a learning curve. This chapter is also twice as long as my others which is why it's taken me so long to publish it. Thanks for your patience and thank you for reading.

_“I got you, don’t go,” someone says. The voice is modulated and broken. Everything he sees is a shade of black and vermillion. He’s trying his best to find his bearings but finds his body petrified. The ground underneath him is grainy and unsteady. Only the feeling of pain seers through his body and then something else distant from the hurt. Fingers. A hand curls around his back, and it’s the only thing solid around him. He tastes more than smells iron._

_He hears himself apologize._

\---

His dreams are beginning to feel more real to him, almost like he’s physically there. He tries to resist his eyes opening beginning to touch his rib cage. He could still feel where the hands had been gripping him. Maybe he was starting to gain his memory and was remembering Han. Han had been in the final battle, hadn’t he? He knew it had been on Cantonica which would explain the feeling of sand, but that was it. Nothing else was coming back, and this was the only dream that could have actually happened since Han was there.

The room’s silence echoed his loneliness, as he tried forcing himself to sleep. Stirring for hours, all he could do was turn over the ghost of a memory. The dreams of Din were coming less yet each no less jarring than the other. In one Din had a dark lightsaber, those didn’t even exist! At some point, he must have fallen asleep because when he opened his eyes it was daytime.

Luke was smiling to himself; it was finally the weekend. Which of course meant no professor Djarin. For three whole days, he could completely erase him from his mind. Which if he was being totally honest had not been the case the past couple of weeks. But today was the day, he knew it.

Maybe it would take some powering through, to not hear his voice. Hearing the way, he says his name so gently. Groaning in annoyance Luke grabbed the pillow beneath his head and threw it. “Stupid Din Djarin get out of my head.” The pillow had hit something on the wall causing it to flutter down. It was a pink paper that he definitely hadn’t put up there.

He stood stretching and grabbed the paper. He recognized Leia’s perfect cursive, ‘Went to the store. Dress extra nice for dinner today! Be back @ 6, don’t miss me too much. -L.O.’ Then very small under it, ‘Dress NICE! Or else. Xoxo’ So she was bringing someone over from the school Luke sighed. Why did she have to be so nice to them?

Flipping through his closet he found nothing good. He had flipped too much and caught a glance at his old clothes. The beige was a striking contrast to the more colorful pallet he’d become accustomed to. He reached out to touch the fabric when a voice behind him called his name. It was feminine so definitely not Obi-Wan.

His head snapped behind him only to find nothing. A chill went through his body as he grabbed a random maroon button-up and slacks.

The house was settling down around him sounding haunted and ominous. He hated being alone, but more than that he hadn’t _been_ left alone in longer than he could remember. Usually, when Leia and Han went out, they left Ben with him. Or Han would force Luke to go with him. Seriously this house acted as if there were two children home.

As he walked into the dining hall from the hallway, he noticed the cereal thrown over the countertop. The carnage of having a two-year-old around. Looking through the empty fridge he sighed, and his stomach rumbled. Struggle meal it is. He grabbed the lone egg in the basket and cracked it into a bowl.

He looked out the window daydreaming. His body had not calmed enough for meditation. It was getting harder for him to put his mind to ease without the use of the Force. Even when Leia had ushered him into therapy it had gone all too terribly. Too terrible for his sister to push anything else onto him. If he didn’t truly want to go back to school, he wouldn’t be in it.

He vacuumed with forced ease. He liked living with the Solo’s especially since he loved taking care of Ben. He wondered if it was against Jedi protocol to have children of his own, even not his own would be perfectly fine. Well first he had to live on his own, and one other thing that came with having children.

His phone dragged him away from his daydream by buzzing in his pocket. He looked at the phone curiously. “Hello professor Djarin,” he answered cautiously. Placing the phone between his shoulder and his ear he began wiping the counter. His mind was racing with everything that could warrant this call, “If you’re going to ask about the quizzes I left them on your desk yesterday after you left.”

There was a muffled movement in the background, “Um no, that isn’t why I’m calling you.”

Interest peaking Luke whispered a little, “Oh?” Halting his movement.

“Yeah. It’s just that Leia wasn’t answering her phone,” Deflating before he even heard the rest of the sentence, Luke went back to his task.

Sighing he says, “She’s out grocery shopping for some business dinner or something.”

“Business dinner?” He spoke more but his voice was shaking as if he was doing something physically straining like running. “Does that mean I shouldn’t bring,” then muffled his voice by putting his hand over the mic? ‘Grogu spit that out,’ Luke heard his chastise on the other end. “Okay, thanks I’ll try calling again.” And hung up with no goodbye.

Shrugging it off he put his phone back into his pocket. Turning the vacuum back on his mind was beginning to process the conversation. Blood rushed up to his face, and he felt his heart beginning to race. No! There was absolutely no way Leia would force him to spend an entire afternoon with the man he was already seeing every day.

**\---**

“He’s my friend Luke,” Leia says while she placed the bags onto the dining room table. She put her hand on her was and glanced at him. “Why are you acting so weird about this,” she says inching closer to him. “You’re the one that’s been having sexy dreams about him.”

He gasped feigning offense, “They are _not_ sexy dreams Organa.” He pouted his lip feigning innocence. “It’s left-over Jedi residue.” He says, he even thought about telling her about the voice he heard this morning as proof of it.

“Jedi residue,” she repeated with a certain unbelieving tone. “Seriously, that’s what you’re using?”

He was helping her organize and put away the food as their conversation moved into the kitchen. “Okay fine I may have a slight…attraction. But it’s not real.” Earning a strange look on her face. “Anyways how does Han even feel about this?” He hoped switching the conversation would ease his annoyance at not being able to read her face.

Handing him a small basket of mushrooms to wash she piped up. “Ecstatic actually,” Luke deflated further. “They didn’t like each other at first, because, well you know how Han is with boun…boundary keepers you know.” She smiled tightly. “Besides they both have odd relationships with their ships, so they’ll probably be yapping of each other’s ear all night.”

With the mushrooms dumped into the sink, he tried thinking of a way to casually ask the question that has been eating at him. “So, Leia,” he says forcing his voice to keep casual. “Does Din happen to have a wife that is going to come with him, or um something?” He acknowledged his mistake only when Leia began laughing hysterically behind him.

Between fits of giggles, she managed to finish one sentence. “So, we’re not pretending anymore?”

“No, we are definitely still pretending,” Luke says continuing into a comfortable silence.

The kitchen was already filling up with the smell of garlic and mushrooms when they heard the song from the doorbell. They argued about who would open the door when the flour Luke was holding slipped and landed on Leia. Before she could get angry at him, he rand to open the door.

Before opening the door, he realized how late it had gotten and turned on the porch light. From the perspective of the air leaving his lungs, it was generally seen as not a good move. He was absolutely not prepared to be greeted by Din. Especially not in normal dad clothes. A light brown woven sweater was wrapped tightly around the muscles of his arms, and the tan pants only added to the warmth of his aura.

Even his hair was different, un-jelled, and curly. Hearing a soft cooing noise Luke’s attention turned down at his arms. They were tightly wound around a green child with big floppy ears. He was waking up and soon big black eyes were dead focused on him. Din smiled and Luke noticed that when he did it scrunched up his eyes. His glasses were slim and golden, not the boxy ones he wore to school.

The child was pushing off his chest as he stretched, and Din opted to put him down onto the floor. There was a moment where he paused just staring at Luke oddly. He tilted his head in confusion and scrunched up his face almost like he was concentrating on a problem. Leia called from the kitchen. “Oh, how rude of me, please come in,” he croaked.

The child waddled into the kitchen at Leia's feet. Leaving them completely alone in the main living area. “Hey Luke,” Din began before a finger interrupted him. Peaking through the window between the kitchen and living room he could tell that Leia's ears were perking up. He ushered Din to follow him. They snuck past the kitchen into the dining room doors that led to the backyard. Only having the chance to glance at his sister’s eye roll before sliding the glace doors closed.

With his hands still on the door handles he let out a shaky breath. “Now you may continue.”

“I was just going to apologize for barging in. I didn’t know that you weren’t aware I was coming for dinner.”

“Don’t apologize,” Luke whispered crossing the patio to come closer to the other man who was staring out into the twin’s garden. “You are apparently Leia’s best friend. It’s her house I’m just passing through.” Looking up they locked eyes, “Plus, it’s not like I dislike you.”

“You don’t?” his voice questioning.

Luke stumbled back. “No, why on Yavin would I?” Walking back and inching toward Din, he whispers, “Unless your secretly an empire spy. Are you?”

Earning an eye-roll he says, “No.”

The shorter blond rocked back onto the heels of his feet. “Then we’re perfectly fine. Right?”

The quiet from the other was almost inviting of the various insect noises around them. The quiet of the early spring air did nothing to reassure Luke. “Unless you’re the one that doesn’t like me.”

At that the older man jumped, quick to defend himself. “No! No, I do. Like you.” Clearing his throat, he continued, “You know a normal amount, friendly amount.”

“Uhuh,” Luke let out.

Hearing the doors slide open behind them they paused. Luke feeling a hand clap his shoulder he turned to see Han between them. “Sorry kids hope I didn’t interrupt a moment.”

Luke’s laugh came out a bit too enthusiastically. “What? A moment no, no moment shared.”

Han turned his attention to Din, “Wow this kid hasn’t been this awkward since I picked him up from that dusty rock.”

“You didn’t even pick me up…” he started, before figuring his best defense was silence.

“Speaking off, did Leia tell you about the time they kissed,” Han said interrupting his thoughts. Din’s eyes grew twice in size, and now they were avoiding each other even hard

Luke had quickly entered the house when that conversation started. Din’s child was playing with Ben who was still sleeping in his car seat. Leia was stirring the soup the flour from before still caked on. “Sorry I tried keeping him inside, but you know how Han is.”

“Yeah,” he replies mostly to himself. “You didn’t tell me Din had a kid.”

“You didn’t ask,” she replies. Luke was opening his mouth to retort when he realized that he actually hadn’t. You didn’t need a partner to have a child. “And his name’s Grogu.” Before Luke could begin questioning the odd name Leia amended, “He came with the name.”

“Do you think he’s special,” he says. “Like Yoda and I?” She shrugs with no further comment.

\---

Dinner passes quicker than imagined as the three of them speak of the university. Then he and Leia branch off when the other men start boasting about their ship. He hears “That busted up pre-empire thing?” followed by something about a “glorified pancake.”

Grogu stares at him through dinner, he’s quiet. More than a child his age should be, and he keeps giving Luke a strange expectant look. He must not like him being around his dad.

Overall, he survives unscathed. In fact, he even thinks he had a little bit of fun. Din is fun, but Luke can’t get attached because of something trivial like the odd dreams. There’s nothing besides that he reasons, but if he’s being honest with himself. He’s racing to go to sleep tonight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By now I'm sure you guys have guessed the big secret but hehehe there's more than just one secret in this family.


	5. Closed Jar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this Luke actually grades something! WOW such TAing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> But actually, this was a chapter I didn't know if it should stand-alone or if I should have split since it was such a short chapter compared to the last one. Also, I'm not a poet but I had to write the poem Luke grades because I wanted to introduce symbolism for a symbol I'm going to use later on in the story, so I had to introduce it somehow.

Luke practically pried his eyes open again the sleep that threatened to overcome him. For some reason unknown to him he had been trying his hardest to stay awake. As he started to succumb to slumber the phone in his hand buzzed. He jumped awake squinting at the screen.

‘ _Thanks for powering through dinner. -D.D.’_ A smile creaked up on him without his knowledge. His face felt hot, probably the faulty air conditioning. He’d have to have some strong words with Leia about it later.

He typed _‘No powering through needed. -L.S.’_ When Han’s voice came into his head. He added ‘ _We didn’t know we were siblings by the way. And! She kissed me. So, I’m just a victim._ ’

It felt weird to text him so casually. Luke was hoping though, that he would read it laugh it off and go to sleep. Now that he knew he had a kid force knew he needed those extra hours of sweet blissful sleep.

His phone buzzed and he opened the screen in light speed. ‘ _Leia the victimizer, I know her well._ ’ He caught a giggle that came from his mouth and slapped his hand over it. Even with no one around him it was still embarrassing. He looked it over not knowing how to respond.

‘ _I’m glad I got to meet your son tonight, he seems really special._ ’ To text a professor, this intimately was probably breaking some kind of university policy. Well, Luke thought, not totally since he’s not really _his_ professor. Then again, he was kind of his boss, but as Leia would say _I am the policy_. So, he rolled over to the cooler side of the bed waiting for his response.

Which turned out to be 3 pictures of the child stuffing his face with food. ‘ _So cute!_ ’ He replied.

_‘He is, and smart, and gentle. Anyways Luke you should probably sleep. We have a busy day tomorrow.’_

He shut his phone off and smiled. He set it on the bedside table tenderly and kicked his comforter with excitement. Then began scolding himself. Din wasn’t even his friend. Plus, their time together was ticking down, and soon they would find it at zero.

\---

They didn’t have another moment alone till further in the week when the sun had set. Luke had become used to the quiet lecture hall. He still hadn’t been able to peek inside the professor’s office, but he’d found warmth in the emptiness of the room. The hues of the setting sun cast a purple light inside, and both waited until the very last second of light to turn on the fluorescent one’s overhead.

“Hey Luke,” Din said in a whispered tone.

The TA had gradually sat closer to him as he became less weary of talking. Now even if Din whispered, Luke could hear him, even with the music playing in his left earbud. “Yeah?” He answered.

Even though it’s been a little while since he had dreamt of Din, his real-life feelings were growing. Maybe the lack of dreams was the residue’s way of saying he was heading in the wrong direction. His one-sided love would be his downfall, and Luke was growing to be okay with that fact.

“So next month is March,” he spoke in an odd tone. One that could only be described as anxious. Luke tilted his head confused at the direction this was taking. “In March,” he continued, “before spring break there’s a gala.”

“Oh,” Luke rubbed his jaw. “Do I have to go? I didn’t think a TA would have to go to something like that.”

“No, you don’t,” the other man said as he rushed the next sentence. “I mean it’s not mandatory, but if you wanted to. Well, I would,” he waved his hands in the air. “Like it if you…came with me.”

_Oh,_ he thought perplexed. Still, he didn’t know what it meant. He probably just needed a scapegoat if conversations started to lull. There was no way he wanted him there just because. “Oh,” he repeated dumbly his thoughts escaping.

Stupid! He was considering slapping himself. The other man’s expression fell as he took what he said as rejection. “I’ll go, sorry, yeah I’ll go.” He attempted to band-aid over the remark from before.

“Like I said it’s not mandatory,” Din refreshed as he stacked papers onto the pile on his desk.

“I want to,” he replied harshly, and then softer he said, “go.”

Luke stood up and grabbed the poem he was grading and slide it onto the professor’s desk. Excited to show him the student's work.

A student had chosen the outdoors as their concept and Luke had written a note to make it less general. Apparently, they had chosen camping because their poem about fireflies next to a campfire took his breath away. There was something in the way the student described them that was lonely. Maybe it was Luke projecting, but the concentration on the feeling was one of the first things Luke’s been able to fully latch onto.

The war ended long before Luke woke up from a coma that had apparently lasted months, and when they were asking him questions about the end of the fighting, they realized he’d woken with a case of amnesia. He remembered seeing his father, then black. Even more so, battles, along with tiny victories, were lost to him.

Since then, something hadn’t been quite right with him. More than just his severed connection. Something was missing, making him feel empty. He’d just assumed it was residue from what he’d lived through, and the memories of it that he still had. Leia just made it worse by babying him. He was a war hero for crying out loud. He’d seen right through her when she asked him to live with her after he got out of his physical therapy, but he really didn’t have anywhere else to go, so he succumbed.

-

Journey of Memory

_Fireflies in the air, so lovely to see in the night sky._

_As are you my dearest beloved prince cast from the castle._

_Lies you state when you reach in and take my heart away._

_Advance into the night sky, my light, further from me, so I chase you._

_Golden complexion of the campfire licking at your softest features._

_Dancing are the captured youthful nights, and mother’s laughter._

_Unspoken is the love you and I share, forbidden in every way._

_Ding, ding, the fireflies hit the glass, I release them breathing new air._

_But you are not in this jar, I cannot capture you, and I cannot forget you._

_Nor lose my love you, as it will always follow me where you do not._

_Nor keep you forever in my mind, one day you will slip from my grasp._

_When I die, you will not be there, your lifetime falls short._

_So long as I got one firefly from you,_

_So long as I felt your kiss once, I can die._

-

They looked down at the paper and noticed a small circle under the title. Din’s eyes traced Luke’s. Din reached up to touch him, and Luke flinched back. He fell to the floor beneath the man’s chair. They looked at each other for a tense second before Luke rubbed his face furiously. There was nothing he hated more than lack of control, and right now he was losing all of it.

An episode of his was brewing beneath the surface and there was absolutely no way he was going to let Din see it. He grabbed his bag and felt his feet carry him away. His body was in fight mode and his body was vibrating with every feeling his body could throw at him. If he stayed everything would be so much worse. He knew it, but he hesitated at the doorway.

Then he heard tender words behind him, and he ran.

**\---**

Luke knew he couldn’t hide forever. Not the way he had been since he woke up. But the feeling of not being able to move, and the precise feeling of nothingness he felt when he woke up. It had started a chase, one that Luke couldn’t begin to grasp the why, or how, or to what.

Further than that, Din, he was something untouchable. A hot professor with a child and a steady job. Who was Luke to someone like that?

His breath was ragged, and he clutched onto his chest as he tried to rip something foreign out. The cause of his pain was inside of him somewhere he couldn’t reach. His brain was his own worst enemy replaying fights, he could feel the heat of it. The weight of a lightsaber in his hand, the weight of everything on his shoulders.

He was Luke Skywalker, and he would save the universe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for your comments and kudos. I am working very hard on finishing the last five chapters but other than that I have nine completed including the ones that have been published. I will still keep posting a new chapter every 4-5 days because it gives us all something to look forward to.  
> But rest assured the story is getting juicy. Let me know how juicy you guys want it to get.


	6. Nothing But A Dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The twins go dress shopping, and Grogu does a little intervening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said I would wait to publish chapters, but I get so excited!

The room Luke had been placed in was a large circle with a platform in the middle circled by mirrors. He was on a white hard cushion couch directly Infront, and Leia was hidden behind a dark purple velvet curtain. They’d been here for hours since his sister had dragged him out of the house in the morning. “So,” she said moving the curtain to the side enough to peek her head out. “You’re telling me that Din asked you out and you, what, ran?”

He hung his head groaning. It had been days of dodging texts and calls, and Luke couldn’t take it anymore. He was tired. He should start learning how to deal with his own problems without the involvement of his sister. He’d had twenty-plus years without her, and suddenly she’d become his crutch. _Well, you were miserable before then_ , a little voice in the back of his mind added.

She slid the curtain back all the way and walked to the platform. She admired the blush pink of the newest dress. Luke shook his head no, and she groaned going back into the little room. “I didn’t flee okay. You know I can’t control what I do when…it happens.” He heard a small sigh beyond the velvet and then the sound of metal as she took another dress off the rack.

He leaned back on the crescent couch and stared at the ceiling. He only looked up when she was in front of him in another dress. It was a light see-through material with blue hints that blended into pink and yellow as it cascaded down. “Are you going to a primary school graduation with that?” He said laughing.

“You are no help,” she muttered.

“If only you had friends,” he retorted and earned an eye roll.

She only spoke again when she was hidden. “Luke come on; you know you freeze when you have panic attacks. You don’t usually run.”

Luke jumped up, “Hey! They are not panic attacks, they’re-” he started and deflated unable to finish his sentence. Then clapped when an idea came into mind, “They’re daydreams with a vengeance, see no p-word.”

She stood in front of him with a maroon wrap-around dress that reached the floor. He gave her an enthusiastic thumbs up. Excited with the idea of finally going home, and his sister not looking like a ball of fabric.

He squirmed under her un-yielding gaze. He had no choice but to agree with her. “Fine,” he said defeated. “But I will have you know that these things have been coming on the more I’m on Yavin.” He muttered. She looked at him oddly and then went back to hopefully change into her normal clothing. When she came back, she was still in the dress but now had a large grey box with blue ribbon wrapped around it.

She handed it to him with a gesture to open it. “Wait, really?” She asked as he began to pull the ribbon apart.

“I’m honestly surprised you’re not tracking it all on a little spreadsheet on your phone.” He moved the tissue paper revealing a fully black double-breasted shawl lapel suit. It reminded him of his Jedi uniform. Except this one was a darker black and held much more appeal to wear. If he put a dark red shirt underneath it they could match. Twins were a matching pair after all.

“None during dinner, one in the car, one in Din’s office,” she muttered to herself, and Luke wished he hadn’t made that joke. His crazy sibling was probably actually about to make a spreadsheet.

He yelled out, “Thank you,” to his sister who’d abandoned him on the couch.

\---

He had been telling Din about his weird day yesterday hoping they could skip the awkwardness of how dodgy Luke had been. “It was so weird. She just like gave me a suit and then went into her own world. Not a word the entire way back home.”

The desks were back to keeping distance, but somehow, they had inched closer together within the hour. “Leia is known to do that.” He replied vaguely. Maybe Luke had been making the awkwardness up, and Din really didn’t care whether he had said yes or no. Somehow that thought hurt more.

Luke had begun a spiral into his own thoughts when there was a soft knock on the door. Before Din could even say come in a tiny green gremlin was running towards his dad. A large, tattooed woman at the door smiled at them, completely ignoring Luke’s presence.

“Sorry I had to bring him in, we were about to get a shipload of spice runners, and you know how the kid gets around criminals.” She spoke distantly when she locked eyes with Luke. Her eyes widened and before she could say anything else the professor jumped out of his chair and rushed her out of the room.

So, Din had a super-secret girlfriend. Who he had been hiding from Luke and Leia. That was if Leia didn’t know she existed, which she didn’t. Right? There was no way she would have let Luke keep thinking about Din romantically if she knew. But that just created more questions for Luke. Like why was he hiding her?

He had been so distracted in his thoughts that he hadn’t realized Grogu had walked over to him. Not until he felt a tug on his pant leg. He leaned over to pick him up and put him onto his desk. “Hey there little buddy,” he said and tapped his nose. It earned a giggle and the child reached up to touch him. He leaned down and felt a little claw on his cheek and then the feeling of weightlessness.

\--

It was another boring meeting even with the tension between the Mandalorians and the rebel alliance. They knew they would be fighting with Jedi, and yet they still joined. It just went to show how catastrophic the empire had become. Leia was in the middle of one of her speeches when Luke locked eyes with a Mandalorian. If he could even say they locked eyes. Maybe locked eyes with visor. Either way, the Mando who had situated himself besides Leia was staring at him.

It was making Luke squirm in his seat. Mando’s thought the Jedi were no good mind readers with an affinity for mind and body control, and the Jedi thought they were ruthless bounty hunters with no morals. It had been drilled into his during his training, and now they were learning to semi-like each other, although tolerance was more the goal. Just until the end, then everything could go back to normalcy.

Luke didn’t really want that. He wanted the fighting to end, Force knew he wanted it to end. But he enjoyed being a Jedi. Always connected to the universe around him. His lightsaber was only a projection of his inner force, and when he used it in battle, he felt its hurt.

There was going to be a mission soon to Tatooine. He hadn’t been back there since he met R2D2. Back then he had just graduated from the order and had returned home for a short while, only to say goodbye. Jedi weren’t allowed connections to the outside world, and Obi-Wan made sure to monitor him closely. Though that was before he’d met Han and Leia, and before Ben's death.

He had gained as much as he’d lost in this war. Sometimes he felt guilt for gaining anything while those around him kept losing everything. Leia herself had lost her entire planet, even if she had gained a brother, nothing would make up for that loss.

He rubbed his eyes in an attempt to subtly look up again. The visor was still dead set on him and R2 beeped beside him. “Yeah, Artoo I’m bored too.” He whispered. Another beep, “No we can’t sneak out this is important.” There was a disgruntled sound that came from the unit, and Luke sighed and made his way to sneak out of the room.

It felt like he could finally take a breath out here. He walked up to his ship and rubbed at the side making it shine. It was dented in places that couldn’t be fixed, but it was still his prize possession. R2 handed him a sandwich and he slumped down onto the floor. “Do you think this is ever gonna end?” He took a bit and it muffled his voice. “I mean this is something that’s been happening my whole life. I’m just a nobody biologist with a connection to something way out of my league.”

The unit beeped a chastising sentence to him that made Luke laugh. “Sorry,” he laughed. “Yeah, I’ll work on my self-esteem. It’s not like there’s much time to right now.”

“Hey!” Luke called out when he recognized that Mando from the meeting. His armor was busted with spots of brown and green on the chest plate. “Hey you,” he called out, as he finally caught up to him.

“Yes?” He said, and it caught Luke off guard. They really did sound unhuman under the modulator of their helmet.

“Why were you just staring at me the entire meeting?” He accused not really sure exactly of what.

“I wasn’t…” he started and then simply just said, “You must be Luke Skywalker.”

The blond tried not to stumble back by the ease of the other’s words. “I am.” He said fiercely.

He realized they were making their way to a razor crest in rough shape. “Do you all make it a habit to keep droids’ company?”

“They are my friends,” he said and for some reason, it felt silly to say out loud. “If you harm them there will be hell to pay.”

“Oh, will there _jetti?_ ” He said his voice acidic as he muttered the last word.

“Just stay away from them-” Something was being broadcasted. A name. He felt it through the force he tried to reach out for it. It was like chasing sand with a strainer, and almost as he caught a grain, pain.

Luke gasped taking the dark classroom in. It was quiet and for a minute he thought Din had left him in the room alone. Except that everything else was dark except for a lamp on the professor’s desk. Grogu was asleep in his arms as he typed away at his laptop. Luke tried to make no sudden movements as he realized his cheek and the desk were wet with slobber.

Not only was it gross, but he also couldn’t remember falling asleep. He knew his nights had been restless, but he hadn’t grasped how bad they had been. He thought over going back to sleep again when he thought better of it. Leia would call him soon. So instead, he laid there on his desk and watched.

He tried to memorize the causality of Din holding his child in one hand and working with the other. He was calm and collected, and if Luke only saw him like this, he could forget how awkward he was normally. His hair jell was loosening its grip and little waves were beginning to escape. His glasses were slipping down again and he caught a glimpse at his big brown eyes. So warm and commanding.

There was something in the way his body fluttered with reassuring anxiety that Luke realized something calamitous.

He was falling in love with something untouchable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot I put fluff as one of the tags. My bad. Listen Luke wasn't even supposed to have all this anxiety, but I was writing the rough draft for the first chapter, and then it was like oh when did I write that in, and it was Luke having a panic attack. So I told my friend how incapable I am of writing cute stories, and she just told me that with angst the fluff is just 1000x better. So! There's that.


	7. Spring Gala

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is it gay to be picked up by the professor you TA for, and then sneak away in the dark?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes! Yes, it is kind of gay.

Despite being an almost exact replica of his Jedi robs the only thing he felt as he looked at himself in the mirror, was content. He also looked kind of hot he had to admit that much. Definitely arm candy machine. He fixed his collar and let the person who knocked inside surprised to not his meddling little sister.

Han’s jacket was the same shade of maroon as his sister’s dress. “Hey, kid Din’s here to pick you up." Han stood next to him in the mirror's reflection. He saw Han's hand reach out to rest on his shoulder. Their eye's connected in the reflection.

"So, I know that your kind of on the fence about this whole thing," he says, and Luke resists turning next to him and instead keeps his focus on them in the mirror. "But from an outsider's perspective. He likes you too." It's said so bluntly Luke almost doesn't react. Even if it was a reassurance he'd been scattering after.

A nervous laugh escaped the younger man who finally turned his attention to the man next to him. He held out his sleeve for Han to button. "I don't remember asking for the fatherly advice."

There was a soft noise as Han slapped him over the head. Luke gawked at him and reached up to adjust his hair. Annoyed that his swoop was a little less perfect. "Can't use humor forever kid."

Luke sighed; Han was only mildly correct of course. "Isn't that what you do?" Not that he would ever let him know that.

The hand on his sleeve paused then moved to the other one. "Yes," he messed with the glove and gave Luke a glance. Almost to ask if there would be a time, he wouldn't feel the necessity of it. "Which is why I know it's no good."

Han grunted as if that erased the softness of the atmosphere he'd created. "So," he said sternly, "go out there and actually try to have some fun. Just try to not think about everything."

Luke took a deep breath as he prepared to go to the living room. They stared from the hallway at where Leia was on her tippy toes to fix Din's tie. It was sinfully well-tailored, in all of its steal grey glory. Luke muttered to Han, "Why do I feel like I'm being sent away to prom?"

The two friends were too invested in their conversation to realize the two men who had joined them in the living room. "Come on," Din scoffed, "Car is a perfectly fine babysitter."

"Oh yeah? She babysits the baby in her office surrounded by criminals! Remember that time she was giving Grogu a sip of a Tatooine Sunset?"

Din rolled his eyes, "It wasn't even that much and he's fifty years old I think he deserved a little spoonful."

"Who's Cara?" Luke asked knowing all too well how particular Leia was about babysitters.

Their conversation came to a halt when Din took Luke in. It made him squirm as he looked him up and down. Finally, when he was able to form a sentence he said, "The woman you met the other day."

"Friend," and Luke had definitely meant to think that not say it.

Something lingered in the air as they stared at each other. Din nodded nervously knowing the meaning behind the question, answer, and response."

When they were pushed out of the house by the Solos, they simply laughed at the ridiculousness of it. Din drove a Gian Speeder. Luke tried not to visibly melt at the sight of the child safety seat in the back seat. He would have been content with a comfortable silence through the entirety of the ten-minute drive. Though the other didn't seem privy to it.

Din shifted tightening his grip on the handles before he finally talked. "Thank you...for coming." It was stiff, and Luke smiled at him fondly. He looked away as an abrupt pain began brewing at the back of his head that rolled forwards to his temples.

He nodded ignoring the headache. He watched the trees swoosh by in a blur. "You know my home planet was nothing like this. That's why I love it for my family." The way he spoke was captivating. Especially right now when his gaze was forced to the road in front of them and Luke was free to look.

Din was a man of so few words Luke had no choice but to cling to each one he was given. "Grogu has so much fun. Although he does scare me a bit. I've seen that kid swallow a frog." He laughed in remembrance. "I mean it was whole, and no chewing was involved." Another laugh, smaller this time. "Shit, he's lifted a whole mudhorn."

Luke looked at him gawking, "He's what?" Din's eyes widened and he scoffed. As if the noise would make Luke disregard his comment. "What do you mean lifted?"

The older man made a little noise of regret. "Grogu's you know special." He attempted to amend.

"Special," He repeated as if that would explain that he was a... "Force user!"

Din cringed, "Leia told me not to tell you, because-" He didn't let him finish. He knew why.

"I'm not fragile. Force, she thinks I'm some like," he motioned with his hands, "breakable glass jar." Din gave him a delicate look that said, _you're no_ t. 

"And because I was scared," Din revealed. "I didn't want anyone to take him. You know how the order is about kids."

"You don't have to worry about that," Luke sighed. "I'm the last of us."

\---

It wasn't until they sat at their table and Din was oddly quiet that Luke began to think he gave him too much grief. His muteness was disorientating. On the bright side, he was getting better at reading him. On the other side, he finally knew what it looked like when he was uncomfortable.

He felt a shift beside him as Han took a seat in the empty chair. He leaned over to whisper, "Well you did something alright." How easy it was to tell Luke had already messed up.

Thankfully he didn't have much time to sulk because shortly after his comment the lights dimmed, and Leia walked onto the stage.

Her hair was wrapped into perfect buns at the sides of her head. Something in her makeup made her sparkle under the spotlights, and Luke realized something. It didn't matter if Din said, "I like you," it wouldn't matter even if he said something drastic like, "I love you." He was never going to be someone like his sister.

He didn't glow under the spotlight. He wasn't all that put together, and he definitely not okay all the time, or even really most of it. He was surviving, and Din Djarin didn't deserve something like that.

He deserved someone like Leia at his side. Someone who didn't have droopy posture, and flashes of pain. He looked away and at the marigold at the table's center. Botany had always been his favorite to study.

When he was a moisture farmer on Tatooine he never believed that water could grow things as beautiful as flowers. Wheat, corn, food it could be reasoned. Flowers were unnecessary. 

So, Luke set out to give them a purpose. His study into marigolds had shown that they could be worked into a larger insect repellant. Bigger than your typical garden insect. He wasn't given the chance to finish his study.

At least flowers were pleasing to look at even with no purpose.

\---

To no one's surprise, Din won the Distinguished Contribution to Lifelong Learning Award, for his innovative teaching in a noncareer-based class. He'd also been recognized as one of the only creative writing teachers to have a student published during their first semester.

"Come on the party doesn't start for another while. We can go put this in my room and come back before it even starts." Luke glanced at Han and Leia, thought, _fuck it_ , and nodded. They made their way out of the building without being noticed and drove to the school incognito.

It was eerie at this time of night. All the lights made the campus look like its own private city. Though the absence of living beings made it look haunted.

Luke leaned against Din's desk as he waited for him to go inside his office. He played with his glove trying to fight the instinct to peek inside. The room was quiet except for the low hum of the air conditioning above.

"Close your eyes and hold your hands out," he called from inside his office. Luke complied. He heard footsteps stop in front of him as he waited anxiously. He did as he was told and held his hands out.

He opened one eye cautiously when he felt something soft-land in his ungloved palm. He took one good look at the thing in his hand and when he finally made sense of the plush a laugh burst out of his chest. "I don't know what to say," he said between giggles. He took another look at the plush womp rat and laughed again.

"Hey," Din said in mock defense. "Why are you laughing at it. It's cute."

"No," Luke corrected, "It is quite possibly the ugliest thing I have ever seen." He picked it up by its tail to examine the detail of its beady eyes. "Who even makes things like this?"

It was Din's turn to laugh. Then as it simmered their eyes looked into each other. Luke's heart was racing, and for the first time in a long time, it was a good feeling.

Their smiles were intimate. Din held his hand out an inch away from Luke's face asking for permission. The second he nodded strong hands cupped his cheeks. He hoped Din couldn't hear the beating in his chest. He ignored the feeling of everything closing in on him for a singular second.

He was panicking, in a bad way. _Why_ Luke cursed, _why now?_ He ignored it, the primitive feeling of freezing or fleeing. He'd waited too long for this moment. Dreamed of what it would be to be kissed by Din Djarin. The worst part was, Din could tell,

Luke could tell that Din could tell. He was retreating, and Luke groaned frustratedly. He put both of his hands up to hold onto Din's face and pulled him in for a kiss.

Pain sprouted like electricity buzzing from the center of his chest and his vision went black. He fell to the floor feeling the carpet on his ungloved arm. He was fighting the feeling of everything slipping away.

\---

When Luke was eight years old he'd heard of fireflies. He'd been jumping around his room willing his aunt to take him somewhere he could collect them in a jar. When he'd laid down into his little bed, and she'd pulled up the covers she told him a legend. She said that her grandmother had told her of the fireflies. They appeared at a time of need collecting memories you aren't ready for. When you store them in a jar sometimes they die and so does a part of you. Just because you are not ready for it, doesn't mean that you won't ever be. "So Luke, if you ever have fireflies come and light up for you, take good care of them. You'll need them one day." She kissed his forehead, and he dreamt of forests of flickering lights. They were so beautiful to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually cannot wait for you guys to read the next couple of chapters, after the memory recollection, shit hits the fan.


	8. Firefly One [The Death Star]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He raises his eyebrow in a question and hopes his silence gives the other enough courage to speak. There's no response and they stand there breathing silently. He's about to give up and when he hears a noise from the helmet. "Come back in one piece." It's simple, but it gives Luke hope.
> 
> He's not a true Jedi, not like Ben nor his father before him. His training was rushed, borderline slopy. He barely knows the beginning of this war. More so he never learned about the nemeses of his "kind." He had only heard of the Mandalorians through the grapevine.
> 
> So falling for one was simply not against his nature. Though he knew it was of the other. That's why he kept it a secret. Friendship was hard enough for the other without Luke complicating it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I am supposed to be studying for my midterms. Instead, here I am. Burying myself with DinLuke fanfictions.

Luke can't feel anything but pain. His body is on fire and flashes of images are passing by so fast he can't make sense of it. It feels like a movie tape roll, but he can't make sense of the squares. Then someone winds it, and it slows playing on the screen of his mind.

\---

They're on the base located on Yavin IV all bunched upon rows of seats. The rebel fighters are suited up in their orange flight suit and stare up intently to where Leia stands beside a screen. She holds a stern facial expression and her voice is serious as she discusses the battle station they are about to be up against.

She points at the screen of blueprints "A small, one-man fighter should be able to penetrate the outer defense."

A pilot a couple of rows in front of Luke raises their hand. "Pardon me for asking, ma'am, but what good are snub fighters against that?" He says. The room feels stagnant though it rushes with the worries of his fellow fighters.

In the midst of all the uncertainty, Leia smiles. It's calculating, and it feels as if she knows something the rest of them don't. "The Empire doesn't consider them a threat. Thanks to a blue R2 unit Jedi Skywalker and I recovered on the planet Tatooine, we have discovered a weakness."

As she continues, Luke's eyes drift a little. On the other side of the room, five Mandalorians stand attentive. One catches his attention. The one in the familiar rust-painted armor. He's kind. The kindest of his kind although he would attempt murder if Luke ever said it to his face, he knows. It's in the Force that his destiny belongs outside of combat.

A man speaks in a low voice so that only Luke hears. It forces his vision to break from Mando. "That's possible even for a computer." He says in response to the instructions Leia had given. Only a precise hit could start a chain reaction.

Luke scoffs. "Not impossible. I used to bulls-eye womp rats in my T-16 as a kid on Tatooine." It's not bragging okay, it's him relaying his past. When he still lived with his aunt and uncle before leaving for college at sixteen.

"Man your ships," Leia's voice orders, "and may the Force be with you."

\---

When the meeting is over and Luke is heading to his ship Leia stops him. She's going to say good-bye. She's the only friend Luke had made in years, and she was so calm in the face of a revolution. He only wished he could be so. But getting into a pilot seat always made him squirm with excitement.

"I only wish Ben were here," he says as he looks down at her. She leans up and plants a soft kiss on his cheek. He tries to ignore the glare of a familiar beskar helmet. She walks away leaving only the observer.

He raises his eyebrow in a question and hopes his silence gives the other enough courage to speak. There's no response and they stand there breathing silently. He's about to give up and when he hears a noise from the helmet. "Come back in one piece." It's simple, but it gives Luke hope.

He's not a true Jedi, not like Ben nor his father before him. His training was rushed, borderline slopy. He barely knows the beginning of this war. More so he never learned about the nemeses of his "kind." He had only heard of the Mandalorians through the grapevine.

So falling for one was simply not against his nature. Though he knew it was of the other. That's why he kept it a secret. Friendship was hard enough for the other without Luke complicating it.

He chuckled as he nodded, it was something that escaped him. "If I do I'll make sure you try some of that blue pudding I've been talking about."

Despite what everyone thought, a Mandalorian was readable. You only had to pay attention to the sway of their helmet. He remembered when he'd spoken so livelily about his favorite dessert after Mando said he favorited nothing. 

"Still sounds disgusting," Mando sighed. Luke also remembered this notion being communicated in the past.

Luke hit his shoulder playfully. "Say yes," he said, meaning  _ say yes and I'll come back for you. _ He doesn't say what he means, he never does.

"I'll try it," Din whispers, and it makes Luke hope again. That if he'd caught the unspoken words, he agreed to them as well.

\---

His body buzzes. "Red five standing bye." He outstretches his arm to flip switches and hears the others reply one at a time. He holds tight to the steer as his ship jostles.

He didn't realize how intensely he'd been staring at his console, because when he looks up he's confronted. He knew its name had meaning, but seeing a planet destroyer. The death star. It made him feel insignificant.

Someone tasks themselves to draw fire and it's the only warning he has before there are sudden flashes. The plasma beams miss him by mere feet as he swerves around them expertly.

It's Luke's turn to take action, "This is red five I'm going in." Everything feels steady. He's always surprised at how easily this comes to him. Especially when the one thing he has to concentrate on doing is saving the whole universe. Easy.

He squeezes the trigger, there's an explosion on the surface of the Death Star. Its defenses going down one by one, in a deafening silence. Biggs tells him to pull up, and he does, barely.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knows he'll never be able to forget the heat. In the distance, a ship blows up. There's no time to identify or even grief. That comes after. Only when there's peace to be known there will be a grief to be felt.

Ben reaches out to him and advice resonates in his mind. Then a voice in his proximity makes him jump. Din warns him about an oncoming enemy, he checks his radar. It's blank, he feels blind. Then it starts. His squad is overwhelmed by a group of Ti-Fighters.

An explosion signals another loss. He notices a fighter on someone's tail. He goes into action, but one wrong move and he could shoot the wrong ship.

Breath in, breath out, he shoots. There's no time to think. A fighter sticks to him. "I can't shake him," Luke says into the comm. He barely finishes his sentence before Wedge saves him.

They've made it to the trenches, he hears a beep to signal a private comm. Din speaks again, and it's only then that he realizes something. His voice doesn't sound as robotic as it usually does, there's no filter. The mic is inside of his helmet.

"Nice of you to make an appearance," already feeling lighter with Din to keep him company. It doesn't erase that he's still in the thick of it, but it does relax him. He's going so fast the walls surrounding him go by in a blur.

Ships behind his start getting taken out one by one. There's nothing Luke can do. Five ships are left.

Four, Wedge misses the bulls-eye. Three, "Quick!" They're all saying. The air around him feels pregnant with anticipation. He's alone, and everything falls on him now. Ben says to use the force. If he misses because of the force it will lead to a future mistrust. But can he choose any other option right now?

He doesn't feel strong enough, his training was sloppy, thrown together at the last second. "Luke," trust me." Ben urged. So he does, he shuts off his computer with a finality.

"Luke, you switched off your targeting computer," Din's in his ear again. Most likely it was meant as a question, but it holds arrogance. He knows what's happening.

He may be going a little crazy, or it could be the adrenaline, but he's slightly enjoying himself. "I know what I'm doing Djarin."

There's a gruff on the other end. "Still don't like that you know my name."

"You conveyed it to me, so-" he hears a screech and knows R2 just got hit. "Not my fault." He draws out as the triggers move under his hand. And then fireworks.

\---

Leia laughs hysterically into Luke's ear who's practically bouncing about. He gripped onto her, latching onto the feeling of something solid. His body is still buzzing. He doesn't even really realize when Han joins.

"You did good," someone says behind them. He turns as soon as he recognizes the voice.

He lets go of Leia and Han and makes his way to Din. He points an accusatory finger at him. "And you owe me that date," not caring that they've been forcing themselves to hate each other. Not even for the sake of their respective kind.

Din seems to take him in, Luke notices the slight up and down of the helmet. His hand is grabbed and he's being dragged to some other part of the ship bay. He swats it away once they're concealed inside of the Razor Crest.

"Hey shiny, who do you think you are kidnapping the great savior of the universe," he says haughtily putting his hand on his hip. He senses the other's eye roll, and not for the first time. He wonders what those eyes look like.

Din opens a small compartment on the wall of his ship and reaches in. Luke attempts to peer into what Din is looking into, but he steps to the left to obstruct the view. "Close your eyes," and Luke does with no further prompting.

He feels a handhold onto his own and it pulls up. He gets the memo and held his hand out. When he's told to open his eyes he's surprised to see something in his hand.

It felt like a light silky cloud. It was a flower. There were dozens of petals circling the middle. The luminescent gold that emanated from it, made it look like Luke was holding a sun.

He looked up to see the reflection of it in beskar armor. "Din," echoes softly through the walls.

"I know," he responded softly. "I know we're supposed to be enemies, but Luke we can die at any second. You could have today. I just wanted to tell you I didn't hate you."

Luke scoffed making sure the flower didn't fall from where it was between his palms. "You don't hate me."

"I like you," the ship suddenly gets ten degrees hotter and Luke needs air.

Luke leans up and lands a little kiss at the base of the beskar helmet. "I like you too Djarin."

\---

He doesn't know what to do. His brain is exploding with memories. He feels another one coming for him and braces himself against it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys thank you for following my story. I realize that the next fourish chapters may feel like a different story, which maybe it kind of is since it feels like a lifetime ago for the characters. As you can tell I'm going with mostly the movie plots for these next chapters. This one is A New Hope and I got the action scene kind of from it along with some dialogue. Of course, there's a lot I have to move around to make room for Luke already having training, and well adding a whole other character.  
> I hope you all are having a terrific Thursday. Also, you should go check out the story Naberrie Blooms. I'm not associated with the story or the author!! I just love the story and thought I should share it. I made a Tumblr as well if any of you wanted to hope on there to talk to me.


	9. Firefly Two [The Art of Training, and Falling In Love]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He could feel the other roll his eyes. “Come on you have to practice with heavier objects.” So this was it what he’d been so preoccupied with to come to see him again.
> 
> Not that he minded having Din to himself for a couple of minutes. He smiled coyly, “Are you offering me your body Djarin?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, I promised on my Tumblr that I would post this chapter on Monday, but I spent the whole day catching up with an old friend. I'll be on time for my next update!

The feeling of being completely clean for the first time in a long time was overwhelming. He was also incredibly warm. His body was probably in shock from going from the subzero temperatures of Hoth to the warmth of the med bay. Din’s helmet was neatly tucked onto the bed next to his arm. He reached out and patted it as if he could image the lush hair hidden beneath.

The Mandalorian jumped up and kept his visor still on Luke. “You’re awake.” Luke gave him a look of adoration cut by the arguing of a man and woman. The door slid open with no hesitation and Leia and Han walked in. “I think you just can’t bear to let a gorgeous guy like me out of your sight.” Han gloated.

In the ruckus, he hadn’t realized how quick Din seemed to be. Now standing at the door facing the hallways Luke missed his warmth. Leia gave him a death glare. “I don’t know where you get your delusions, laser brain.” She said pointedly.

He heard Din laugh, and Han turned his attention to it. “Laugh it up, bucket head, but you didn’t see us alone in the south passage.” He put his hands on his hips and tilted his head up. “She expressed her true feelings for me.”

“My-” Leia scoffed, “Why you stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herder!”

Han pouted at that. “Who’s scruffy-looking?” He was speaking to Luke, but he couldn’t focus on the argument in front of him. He just looked at Din. His visor was still glued to the hallway as if monitoring everything but them.

“I guess you don’t know everything about women yet.” He heard her say but wasn’t focused on them. Not until hands wrapped around his face and he was drawn into a forceful kiss. His eyes remained open and when they were able to see something but her, he made contact with a visor.

Han shut up after that, but they continued their argument down the hall. The room went deadly silent when the doors were able to shut again. Luke opened his mouth to say something when Din suddenly tilted his helmet towards him. Somehow, he could tell it was a scowl. “That was reckless.”

“For once it wasn’t,” Luke groaned feeling the aftereffects of mild hypothermia. “I got swiped I didn’t look for trouble this time.”

That at least earned a scoff. “So, you admit that you do look for it.”

His smile was tight, and he looked down to where his hand was clenching and unclenching. “I couldn’t grab my lightsaber. I mean it was a couple of feet away from me.” From the silence, he gathered Din didn’t know the significance of this.

“I’m not strong enough, not yet.” Was the last thing he said. He fell back asleep when the next round of meds hit his system.

Even when he was up, and well base preparations kept them apart. After the kiss incident, he hadn’t had the chance to speak to Leia. He’d been mulling it over after getting a handful of dirty stares from Han. Fixing the collar of his shirt he made a decision and walked into the main room of the base.

There was a big halo projection of what looked like a typical moisture farmer’s home. Except in this version the material was a dark grey brick covered slightly in moss. It was shut off as soon as he walked in so he didn’t quite get a chance to inspect it. Leia and Din stared at him both frozen.

He wasn’t allowed a word as Din grabbed him and hauled him off to another part of the base. It was an empty room in the cave most likely too weirdly shaped for anyone to want to occupy it. A mat was laid in the middle and some covered the walls. “You know I don’t like when you run off half-assed into a suicide mission right.”

When the other didn’t continue Luke figured he needed to answer. “Right?” This was only met by Din patting his chest. He remembered their conversation in the med bay. “I’m not going to use the Force on you Din.”

He could feel the other roll his eyes. “Come on you have to practice with heavier objects.” So this was it what he’d been so preoccupied with to come to see him again.

Not that he minded having Din to himself for a couple of minutes. He smiled coyly, “Are you offering me your body Djarin?”

A sigh followed. “I can throw just the armor at you,” then a beat later, “while you’re sleeping.” He rubbed his head at the implication of beskar panging off.

Finally, he agreed, he’d hold himself back to not hurt him, though he didn’t deem he even had enough power, to begin with. They walked to opposite sides of the room and stood in front of each other.

Suddenly another worry came to mind. “There’s no way I can like accidentally knock of your helmet, right? I’m not really great at controlling it.” Din walked closer closing the distance between them. His hand reached up and Luke tried not to fight the sensation of cold leather. Having him this close was a rare enough occurrence.

“Okay, it’s sweet that you worried, but no you can’t.” There was something flirty behind those words. Even if he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. It was when they went back to their positions and Luke held out his hand that the planet began shifting underneath them.

There was a fire somewhere out in the hallway, Hoth was being attacked. Luke had healed long enough ago that his mission should have been put on a higher pedestal. Dagoba. He remembers the words from a fever dream. How could he have forgotten? Idiot. “Luke come on we’re evacuating,” Din said rushing to grab him.

There were people swarming outside. “I have to go to Dagoba,” he said holding onto Din’s arm. He was almost twitching, ready to go join the fighting outside. He wouldn’t have time to say goodbye to everyone. Even if he could he knew it would hurt too much. Even just having Din this close was a painful reminder of how much he lacked restraint as a Jedi.

“Tell them I’ll miss them. I’ll see you again Djarin,” Luke whispered. He reached up to pull Din down and kissed his helmet. They were close enough that Luke could hear a slight hitched breath. Din grabbed something in one of the pockets of his belt. He put something in his ear and gave him a box.

“It’s a small comm, if you have that box rear it, I’ll hear it,” Din’s breath is steady despite the overwhelmingness of their situation.

Not ten minutes after his ship escaped the atmosphere, he heard a ping. “Are you keeping it on?”

“Yes, are you?” He knew the answer.

“Always.” Luke smiled. Right now, they were in survival mode. It didn’t matter how they survived, as long as they did. That included a Mandalorian falling in love with a Jedi.

The comm pinged on and he heard a crack of electricity and then a tiny burst before he heard anything else. “Are you guys okay?” He asked although it was only to see what they were doing. He was hoping a yes would dissipate his worries. Nothing could risk him backing away from his mission.

Din went on silent for a beat then just as fast as he left, he came back. “Yeah, we’re okay. You know how Han’s junky ship can be.”

He heard a retort come from Han, but there was no reaction from The Mandalorian. His monitor beeped, he was about to descend. “I’m about to land.”

“Take care cy’arika.” The mic crinkled and then it was radio silence.

They spoke sporadically from that point. He filled Din in a little on his training. A week before his confrontation with his father, Din didn’t answer. He assumed he was busy, but nothing. Not for days. Luke tried to calm himself the best he could, but he had no time not even to worry.

When he lost his hand and was in recovery Leia told him no one was able to find him. Before they were taken in the Cloud City, he’d disappeared. No one knew his whereabouts for almost the entire time Luke had been on Dagoba. In recovery no matter who came in, his heart always drooped. There was only ever going to be one person that would heal it.

One day Luke had grown tired of the sulking. “I need to talk to you about something, but before I do. I want to know how you got them on our side. The Mandalorians.”

She smiled fondly not at him more like in remembrance. She sat at the foot of his bed rubbing his leg to comfort him. It didn’t even really look like she did it on purpose. “I didn’t really,” and maybe she was giving herself too little credit. “I really just meant to get one, and he brought a whole squad with him.”

Luke whispers Din’s name and Leia’s head shoots up. She nods through her face asks too many questions to vocalize. He submerges an ‘I thought so.’

“When I was a teenager on Alderaan a man fell in love with me. Well, I’m not quite sure love is the right word. Either way, he was older a lot, he knew my age and chose to ignore it. I guess even as a princess I couldn’t run from the evils of this universe. So, my mom, the queen called her best guardian to watch over me. She’s known him since before the clone wars, which meant a lot to her.”

“He informed her of his son, and his current training and wondered if he could bring him. Of course, the Mandalorian had no biological son. As a child of war, the young boy had been forced to witness the murder of his parents. They were murdered by droids. They saved him, the best they could. This specific guard my mother had hired was the one who had pulled him out of the cellar. So he took him as a son.”

“My mother who’d hired him, allowed the young boy to stay more as a guest than a trainee. As gratitude for the guardian and her long-standing friendship. This all happened as he neared his eighteenth birthday so he would soon have to submit to his clan’s creed. They followed the old ways and no one would ever see his face or know his name. I would be the last.”

“That…that kind of intimacy. It was something he would never be able to share with anyone. I wanted to give him something of equal value. Something I had never shown anyone. I lifted a pen and brought it into my hand all without standing.”

“You used the force?” Luke interrupts not realizing he had due to how enthralled he’d been by the story.

She only nodded and continues, “I did. He was scared. More for me than of me. By the time they’d caught my seeker, he’d gone off to swear to Mandalore. We’d kept in contact all these years hoping one day we could reunite.” Moving to stand a hand reached out moving hair from Luke’s face. “Why did you ask Luke?”

Something about the way her eyes traced over his facial features, he knew she knew why. Now though, there was more weight to his words. He looked into her eyes worried about how she would react. She was a new friend to Luke, someone completely unlike anyone he had ever met. But he had to live his truth. He had to do more than just survive. “We’re in love with each other.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, it's crazy to me how far this story has come. I remember writing Mushroom Soup during the winter storm in Texas where I was alone at college. I'm trying to put the fluff I promised in my tags, but it's hard when you have hard-headed characters to deal with. I am excited to announce I have another story in the works. I'm not sure if I will start posting it, as I post this one, or if I can force myself to wait. It's a fake dating au! Luke's a teacher, Din's a lawyer.   
> You can friend me on Tumblr it's @/arbitraryloveright


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